Buying Guide: The Best AMD Processors

AMD CPUs can be excellent value picks for mainstream work—if you choose the right one for the right circumstances. Here's a guide to the latest and best AMD chips we have tested.

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In recent years, whether you’ve been buying a desktop or laptop PC, upgrading one, or building one from parts, the choice between Intel and AMD processors has been stark. Intel’s chips span the whole price spectrum, from budget to power-user extreme. The company’s priciest processors, however, thoroughly own the high end of the market in terms of raw performance.

AMD’s offerings, comparatively speaking, compete only in the bottom half of the market. Even the best AMD processors, in terms of multitasking and multithreaded media crunching, can vie only with some of the lesser Intel chips in the company’s midrange lines, like the Core i3 and i5.

That said, not everyone is editing huge HD video files or crunching million-cell spreadsheets, so AMD chips are suitable choices under plenty of circumstances, and they can offer exceptional value, depending on what you do. You wouldn’t choose an AMD chip for a pro-grade video-processing workstation whose raw speed would directly affect how quickly you got time-sensitive projects done, with money riding on the line. Intel’s best Core CPUs outrun even AMD’s eight-core best for that kind of use. But you might opt for one in a budget-sensitive hobbyist media machine, or a host of office basic-use workstations. Indeed, many of AMD's chips are quite adequate for light- and moderate-duty computing, which is what most users engage in most of the time.

When trying to determine the best AMD processor for you, you need to make a distinction between two very different kinds of chips the company offers: its conventional CPUs, and its dual CPU/GPU chips, which the company dubs “accelerated processing units,” or APUs. They’re intended for different uses, and knowing which kind to look at is a good first step in assessing AMD’s chips. (To be clear, Intel’s mainstream Core CPUs have on-chip GPUs, as well, making them “APUs” in a sense, too—the term is AMD’s own, though.)

AMD FX Series CPU

The Conventional CPUs: AMD’s FX Line

AMD’s current performance line of CPUs, the FX family, may not be able to touch Intel’s top silicon, but given these chips’ prices, there’s no reasonable expectation that they should be able to.

The current top-end mainstream CPUs in the FX line at this writing, the FX-8350, FX-8370, and FX-8370E (hit the links for reviews of them all) are $175-to-$200 parts if you’re building a PC. Contrast that with the $300-to-$325 "Devil's Canyon" Core i7-4790K or the $999 "Haswell-E" Core i7-5960X Extreme Edition, two of Intel’s biggest bruisers at this writing. The 8000-series FX chips are robust-enough choices for non-mission-critical media-processing tasks and PC gaming with a discrete video card.

Note that we are intentionally not mentioning there a higher-end, outlier chip that AMD also produces, because it is not a mainstream pick: the FX-9590, which sells for between $230 and $300. Still available from a few outlets, this chip is intensely power-hungry (the thermal design power rating, or TDP, is a whopping 220 watts), requires robust cooling and a hefty power supply, and will work with only a small subset of AM3+ motherboards. And, as we found in our tests, it practically demands liquid cooling to run at its full 5GHz-clock potential. Indeed, some outlets sell it in a kit along with an AMD-branded water-cooler! If you're intrepid, need the raw gigahertz, and have the case space, it's not a bad option at around $300 with the cooler.

On the subject of a discrete video card: You’ll need one with any AMD FX CPU. You cannot operate an FX chip without one, because unlike with AMD’s APUs and most of Intel’s chip line, the FX chips lack on-processor video acceleration. That’s not necessarily a bad thing; the most budget-pressed buyers will likely opt for an AMD APU—a video card and processor in one—and for those with higher performance aspirations, even a modest dedicated video card will beat the graphics performance of the graphics engine on an AMD APU or an Intel CPU.

If you disregard the FX-9590 (if you're curious about it, though, don't miss our review of it), the FX line comes in three tiers. They are the 4000-series, the 6000-series, and the 8000-series—and they equate to a low, middle, and high end in their own right. As of this update in early May 2015, the 4000-series chips hovered around $100, while the top-end 8000 series, the FX-8370, was about $190 to $200. (The "8370E" variant of the FX-8370 is much the same chip, just with a configurable TDP.) The quad-core AMD FX-4130 we tested (or one of its step-up successors, such as the FX-4350) is a good general-use chip to pair with a modest video card, while the eight-core FX-8350 or FX-8370 is a solid pick for mainstream/hobbyist media processing and is more power than most users will need.

Note: You will need an AM3+-compatible mainboard to use these chips, so you may need to factor the cost of a mainboard into the equation. AM3+ refers to the socket type on the mainboard. If you have an older AMD-based system, it may use the AM3 socket (without the "+"), so be sure you're clear on what you have before diving in. The two are not the same! You'll want to check the model of motherboard you have to be sure the chip you're looking at is specifically supported.

The APU Option: AMD’s A Series Chips

AMD A10-7850K

The other primary AMD option is the company’s series of combined CPU/GPU parts, which, as we mentioned earlier, AMD refers to as "APUs." In a desktop PC, these are decidedly budget options. The top-end desktop APU chip at this May 2015 writing, the overclockable AMD A10-7850K, costs about $170 by itself and includes an on-chip graphics accelerator that should suffice for light gaming and everyday computing tasks. The whole idea behind these chips is cost savings—you get a light-duty CPU and GPU in one, and if you’re a gamer, you can install certain AMD Radeon video cards down the line and use both the on-chip graphics and the video card’s GPU additively in CrossFire mode. (In other words, the graphics processing ability that you paid for on these chips may not have to go to waste if you buy a video card.)

With AMD’s “Richland” line of APUs, introduced in 2013, AMD introduced a new motherboard socket, called FM2. If you’re intrigued by one of the newer APUs, you may need a new motherboard, too, and that may dampen the value proposition. But if that’s okay, know that the mainstream APU field is split into two families: A Series and E Series. Simply put, the A Series are very much the better performers, while the E Series are all about power savings and low-heat computing. If you are upgrading or building a desktop PC, today the A Series chips are alone worth considering. Only consider an E Series if you are building a super-small, compact desktop with a specialty motherboard using lots of highly integrated components.

Among the A Series, the newest and best chips at a given price point belong to the “Kaveri” family (which have a series number in the 7000s). Among these chips, we’ve tested the AMD A10-7850K mentioned earlier (an overclockable part that we found a little pricey for what it is, but which has since dropped to around $150) and the better-value AMD A8-7600. (The A8-7600 took some time to come available as a DIY part but in mid-2015 hovered around $95 to $100, a nice deal.) AMD also offers a couple of ‘tweener chips, the A10-7650K and A10-7700, which should prove a decent balance between the two and sell in the low $100s. (We haven't specifically tested those two, though.)

An important note, though: The Kaveri chips require a newer version of the FM2 socket, dubbed...you guessed it, "FM2+." FM2+ motherboards can accept previous-generation AMD APUs that worked with FM2, but it doesn't work both ways; you can't stick a 2014-15 era Kaveri chip into a plain, older FM2 mainboard. As a result, if you want the very latest Kaveri chips, you'll need to buy an FM2+-compliant mainboard with the chip, as well.

Serious Budget Building: The AM1 Platform

A further option for those looking to build very inexpensive, compact PCs is AMD’s AM1 platform, which was released in 2014 to retail buyers and PC builders after its conception as a platform for very price-sensitive markets. (We tested the AM1-socket-based AMD Athlon 5350 as the "flagship" of this very low-cost line.) Designed primarily for markets in developing nations and scenarios where low pricing is the main concern, the four AM1-compatible APUs that AMD released in April 2014 are power-efficient processors that work with a line of AM1-based motherboards. (Note that the socket proper on these boards is actually called "FS1b" and is compatible with nothing else.)

Marketed under the venerable Athlon and Sempron chip brands, the AM1 chips are socketed versions of the company’s “Kabini” chips that were previously seen only in a few isolated low-end laptops. Most of the AM1 motherboards we have seen so far are under $50, and the chips range from $30 to $50, so it's possible to score a motherboard and CPU for well under $100. The chips, being APUs, also have modest on-chip graphics acceleration, so you don't need a graphics card with these, making the outlay to build an AM1 system that much smaller.

AMD Processors on Laptops

In most cases, an AMD processor in a laptop is a sign that it’s a budget-centric machine. The company’s mobile processors used in today’s new laptops are all of the APU variety, sporting CPU and GPU in one.

“Trinity” was the code name for the 2012 line of AMD laptop chips, and "Richland" was the 2013 generation, and while you may still see a few of these chips in closeout-type laptops, the current bunch in mainstream laptops go by the family name "Kaveri," with mobile versions having rolled out in 2014. (Two lesser families you may run across, dubbed "Kabini" and "Temash," were lower-TDP APUs intended for tablets and lightweight/budget laptops, but they got relatively little adoption.) Kaveri chips will have a 7000-series designation.

The AMD-based HP Pavilion Sleekbook 15z

As with the laptop versions of Richland chips, the progression you’ll see on the different laptop Kaveri chips is from A4 to A10, with the higher numbers indicating better performance. The graphics on some of AMD's most recent laptop APUs can outstrip Intel's HD Graphics 4000 (the usual older flavor on Intel Core-based laptops that don't have a separate graphics chip) or even some older discrete graphics adapters.

Here are the best of the AMD desktop chips we have tested. Again, make sure you know what kind of motherboard you have on hand to be sure that the specific chip you have on hand is compatible. These days, a CPU upgrade often means a motherboard upgrade, too. (See our motherboard info center for our latest reviews and previews.)

Check Out the Current Best AMD Processors…

Our Verdict: This midrange CPU/GPU delivers very good integrated graphics performance, and improved CPU performance, at a more reasonable price and power level than its A10-7850K "Kaveri" counterpart. It’s a good choice for budget gaming PCs, though comparable Intel chips still beat it on raw CPU performance.

Our Verdict: With its high clock speed and eight cores, the FX-9590 is undoubtedly the fastest AMD-based consumer processor you can buy—and its price is now much more palatable. But unless you’ve already got robust liquid cooling to keep it properly chilled, you’ll probably want to opt for something that runs cooler.

Our Verdict: At just over $100, this four-core AMD processor is a good fit for budget PC builders and upgraders who don’t often edit large videos or do other time-consuming, CPU-heavy tasks. Note, though: It’s power-hungry for the performance it delivers.

Our Verdict: AMD's FX-8370 desktop CPU bumps up its top clock speed a tick, offering slightly better performance than the now-aging FX-8350 in some instances. It's a decent option for those with an AMD AM3+ system to upgrade, but the FX-8350 remains, arguably, a better value.

Our Verdict: If your computing needs and budget are both light, but upgradability matters, the Athlon 5350 is a good CPU/GPU to build a low-cost PC around. Opt for something more powerful, though, if you do anything CPU- or graphics-heavy.

Our Verdict: AMD’s latest high-end APU is a serviceable option for budget-strapped gamers, but many of its new hardware features rely on software that just isn’t ready yet—and similarly priced Intel chips hold a strong lead on CPU performance and power efficiency.